Higashiseiyou High School. Year two, class one.
Amidst the clamor of an early morning classroom, Yuuki Narito quietly sat in his seat at the very back beside the window-- the seat of gods, as some called it.
It wasn’t just because of its relative location that it, the seat Yuuki pulled in the latest seat raffle, got the name either. There was another, equally weighty reason.
“Morning.”
“Morning.” Yuuki replied to the shadow stretched across his side.
Standing there with a smile on her face was none other than one of the prettiest girls in school, notorious for making every one of her seatmates fall head over heels for her, Yui Takatsuki, otherwise known as “The Seatmate Killer”.
Yui unassumingly pulled her chair back. She sat down, placed her backpack on top of the desk and began sorting through its contents.
Once finished she let out a fakeish sigh. “Hehe.” She giggled, her head slightly tilted.
“...What?”
“It just feels a bit surreal, I guess.”
“What does?”
“The fact that it hasn’t even been a month since the raffle.”
“I suppose.”
“Time sure flies, doesn’t it?”
“Does it?” On that note, Yuuki returned his gaze back to his desk.
Yui looked out the window, gazing into the distance. “Have I ever felt this way before? Hmm...” She muttered, sighing.
Yuuki ignored it, brushing it off as off-handed rambling. Yui turned forward, falling silent.
She had finally settled down... or so it seemed, only for her to shoot Yuuki a displeased look. “Mind toning it down a little? I can smell the gloom all the way from here.” She nagged, raising her voice, her composure flying right out the window.
Yuuki knew from experience that playing along would just wear him out and that wasn’t the foot he wanted to start the day off with.
He glanced over to her, holding an index finger up to his mouth. “My bad, now can you please shut up? I don’t want to hear a single word coming out of your mouth.”
“Awfully tall demands for just a quick my bad, don’t you think?”
“It’s just, your voice drags. I think all that running finally caught up to me.”
“What are you, fifty?”
“We went to the park that day too.”
“Where you did nothing but eat and sleep.”
“My neck hurts.”
“Sorry my lap wasn’t to your liking, sire.”
“No, your lap was--”
Yui’s eyes shot open. “Lower your voice!” She exclaimed, her voice the considerably louder one. So loud, in fact, that several nearby classmates looked over in confusion.
Slightly pink in the face, Yui cleared her throat, readjusting her posture. She then gave Yuuki the side-eye.
Yui suggested Yuuki and her pretend to be girlfriend and boyfriend in Mina’s presence, to help her make friends. Last week, back from a pretend date, they ran all over looking for Mina, who had yet to return home.
“Lap pillows, hugs. I’m gonna need to start charging you.” The seatmate killer grumbled, in a bad mood as usual.
Hiding behind this persona was likely a tragic young girl who coped with some kind of deep-seated childhood trauma by making her seatmates fall head over heels for her, only to then dump them.
Yuuki didn’t succumb to her charm. He didn’t stoop down to her level. He swore he would treat the seatmate killer with warmth and kindness until the innocent young girl inside her resurfaced, putting an end to these silly games... as long as it didn’t inconvenience him too much, of course.
Yuuki met her gaze with a lukewarm one. “Any chronic pain you want to tell me about?”
“Can we stop with the retiree jokes already.” Yui frowned, only to quickly turn it upside down, leaning over Yuuki’s Desk. “Whatcha doin’ there? Oh dear, studying? In a place like this?”
“School, you mean? Midterms start next weekend.”
What do you think school’s for? This is exactly why I didn’t want to talk to you.
Yuuki tapped his workbook with his pen, Yui’s face twisting “Ah yes, It’s that time of the year already. Wish it was that time every four or more years, but anyway. Yuuki, how’d you do on your midterms? Just so I can get an idea of how much you’re packing upstairs.”
“I forgot.”
“Your best subject?”
“Forgot that too.”
“If you don’t wanna talk then just say so, jeez.”
I fool you twice and you’re shaming me? Shouldn’t that be the other way around?
As Yuuki was just about to explain that he did, in fact, not wanna talk, Yui smirked. “Oh, I know. You’re just too embarrassed to say.”
“No, I got a ninety on my math midterm.”
“Jogged your memory, I see.”
“And you?”
“Heh, I got a ninety-two on my Spanish midterm!”
“No, your math midterm.”
“Matemáticas!” She dodged the question, turning her head forward. Just as Yuuki was about to gaze down at his desk, thinking the conversation was over, she whipped her head back toward him. “How about a friendly competition then?”
First your silly love games, now this?
Yuuki felt tempted to respond with a no, but, remembering he decided to try and play along with Yui’s antics to the best of his ability, he instead nodded. “Sure. Why not.”
“Is it just me or did you look really indifferent about it for a second there?”
Stay strong. Stay calm.
Unclear whether or not Yui understood Yuuki’s struggle, she tilted her head, a mischievous smile on her face. “And what do I get if I win?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“Just thinking of all the things I could make you do if I win.”
“Like what? Rub your shoulders?”
“Are you my affectionate son?”
“Would you prefer a shoulder massage ticket?”
“No. Keep it.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Hmm, let’s see. How about...” Yui gazed up at the ceiling, folding her arms. Her eyes suddenly narrowed, a grin spreading across her face. “Oh, I know. How about a yes ticket?”
“A yes ticket?”
“You must say yes to everything the other person tells you.”
I should’ve known that grin meant she was up to no good. Don’t know what’s so fun about ordering others around but it’s definitely a sign of a twisted heart.
“And if I win, you’ll untwist your heart.”
“I’ll what?”
“Forget it, yes ticket it is.”
“Just to be clear, I’m not talking about tickets to a yes concert.”
“Yes, yes.”
“No, you don’t understand. If you lose, you’ll have to do anything I tell you. Show some fighting spirit!”
“Why? Not like I’m legally binded to or anything.”
“Don’t think you can just conveniently back out when things don’t go your way.”
It appears I’ve been seen through.
Yuuki, fearing she’d start grumbling again, decided to play along. “Either way, I’m not losing to someone who’s too afraid to reveal their midterm scores.”
“Oh, you’re done for. Just wait till I bust out my secret weapon.” Yui said, furiously typing away at her phone.
This secret weapon is... not emerging out of a hole in the pool. Probably.
Yui’s fingers stopped. She lifted her head, her mouth twisting into a dauntless smile.
“Hehehe, you may as well start practicing party tricks now.”
“I’d watch my stockings if I were you.”
“What’re you planning?”
And so, the mind games began.